Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.

Chapter 4

They were late. Hmm... neglecting their sworn duty? Lyra smirked to herself as she waited, almost bored. The civilians had fled at first sight, and it was hardly entertaining to shoot at the quantrons. Well... Only for the first few minutes.

Her eyes flicked to the side at the first sign of motion, and she sighed when it was only Cosmos shifting position. He crouched in the tree to her left, at a height that would put him more or less even with the Rangers on their gliders.

"Where are they?" she whined, delivering a swift kick to the tree trunk. It wobbled.

"Don't do that," he said sharply, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are you afraid of heights?"

"I'm not," he said, irritated. "But until I have the Red Ranger's morpher again, my powers are limited to teleportation and not healing, so if you want to decimate this tree, I'll find another one."

"Teleport yourself in midair," she retorted, frowning to herself. They were still after Andros's morpher? Really? It had been too much fun doing all that to him that she'd forgotten there was a reason for it.

She found that oddly disturbing. How did she just forget why she was trying to kill someone? Or not kill, as seemed to be the case with Andros. It was just more fun that way.

"Where are they?" Cosmos echoed her earlier words, sounding frustrated. "There's seven of them! How do they not know we're here?"

"Give them another few minutes," she suggested. "Then we'll just start blowing apart the buildings to get their attention."

"Why wait?"

She laughed softly and shook her head, leaning back against the tree trunk. The breeze picked up as she crossed her arms, keeping an eye out for the Rangers.

Zhane hit the ground hard, his knees jarring on the pavement. Rolling over, he hopped back up and clenched one hand over his Silverizer. He looked towards Ecliptor and took aim, lowering the weapon when Andros and TJ both rushed forward in their own attacks. He was more likely to shoot one of them.

TJ overswung his ax, and Ecliptor slashed him across the chest. Zhane winced when the Blue Ranger went down, slowly moving closer. Karone and Cassie kept TJ from losing his head, and Zhane took his chance. Darting under Cassie's arm, he fired.

Ecliptor stumbled back and TJ straightened up. Zhane saw Ashley and Carlos throw some quantrons out of their way and fall in line beside him, TJ and Cassie on his other side with Karone slightly in front of him. It didn't occur to him that he hadn't counted six other Rangers until he fired just as Andros charged in to attack.

The Red Ranger yelped in pain and Zhane winced, dropping his arm back down as he ran over to help Andros off the ground. His friend cradled one arm to his chest, and hissed softly as he straightened up, causing Zhane to wonder if he'd been hit somewhere else too.

"Are you all right?"

"That's the dumbest question you've asked in awhile," Andros muttered. "You shot at me!"

"I did not!"

"Andros!" Ashley elbowed Zhane out of her way, laying a concerned hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Zhane noted that Ashley didn't get snapped at for asking the exact same question that he had, but then, he wasn't sleeping with Andros and she hadn't shot him.

"You are not," Ashley said firmly, and Zhane had the strangest sense that she was glaring at him. "Med bay."

Ecliptor vanished just then, taking the quantrons with him. Zhane found that a bit odd, but he wasn't going to question it.

"I'm with Ash on this," he said guiltily. He had been the one to fire the blast, after all. "You should get to the med bay."

Andros muttered something under his breath that Zhane couldn't understand, but relented without much of an argument. That was worrying in itself, but Zhane just raised his communicator to his mouth and ordered Deca to teleport them aboard.

"Since when do Rangers not show up for battle?" Lyra scowled at Elgar, who had the misfortune of standing nearest to her. "What did you do?"

"What?" He scratched his head as he stared at her. "Oh! Well, the quantrons in the Velocifighter bay wanted to--"

"Oh, shut up, you idiot," she snapped, and zapped him. "Where's Cosmos?"

"Oh, he was... uh..."

Lyra growled a curse, and glanced around for a quantron. "Take him to play with Scrudly."

She rubbed her forehead with a sigh, and then stormed off of the Bridge to her quarters. Cosmos sat at the small table in the corner, contentedly eating his lunch.

"Hungry?"

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her temper getting the better of her. "Why are you sitting around eating when we need to know why the Rangers--"

"Didn't show up because Ecliptor went down and fought them," he finished for her, almost smugly. "Oh, and the Red Ranger was injured in the crossfire."

"Oh." She paused, letting out a deep breath. "Injured how?"

He snorted. "The Silver Ranger shot him."

"Really?" That brought a smile to her face, and she had to laugh as she headed towards the Synthetron. "How badly was he hurt?"

"His left wrist was the worst, but if you watch the battle yourself, it looks like his side and his thigh were hit." Cosmos didn't bother to hide a gleeful smile. "Hopefully he'll be out for a day or two."

She nodded slowly. "That gives us some time to think of something else... I think we need to get onto the Megaship again."

He nodded in agreement, and wiped his mouth. "We could try asking, but he's not that stupid. Anymore."

"Well..." She considered that for a few moments. "I wouldn't want to dangerously underestimate his intelligence."

"We could always capture the Yellow Ranger again."

"Eh." Lyra made a face. "I'm bored with her. And she's managed to escape every time. Zhane or Karone would be better."

He chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. "Karone."

"Okay." She nodded. "We'll--"

"Work out the details later," he finished for her. Setting his empty plate to the side, he stood and crossed the room to her. "I've got a better idea for right now."

She wrinkled her nose when he kissed her. "You taste funny."

He sighed and went to rinse out his mouth. Lyra laughed and grabbed his arm as soon as he'd spat out the water, pushing him towards the bed.

"You'll be fine in a few days," Ashley assured Andros as she finished wrapping his wrist. "I think your suit absorbed most of it."

"Isn't the Power great?" Zhane shifted uncomfortably, his face guilty. He'd been apologetic and helpful once they'd established that he hadn't been shooting at Andros, he'd only shot him.

Andros glared at him, and Ashley caught his arm when he moved to slide off the bed. "It wasn't just your wrist," she reminded him. "Let me see your side. And your leg."

"It doesn't hurt," he insisted.

"I'm sure it doesn't," Zhane snorted. "Don't make me sedate you."

Andros sighed. "I'll go take care of it on my own."

Ashley had a sudden flashback to their first meeting, and giggled softly to herself. When they both looked at her strangely, she caught Andros's eye, and smirked. "Take off your pants."

He looked confused for a moment, then he winced and flushed red. She bit her lip to keep herself from laughing too much, and leaned over to hug him hard. He sighed but wrapped an arm around her waist, though she just knew he was rolling his eyes.

Zhane watched them with ill-concealed glee. "Whatever it is, I want to hear it."

"No," Andros said firmly. "Get out of here."

"I'll tell you later if he doesn't behave," Ashley promised, cheerfully ignoring the look Andros shot at her.

"That's not fair," he complained. "I really am all right."

"You remember the day that you and Karone found us?" Ashley began, and Andros was suddenly much more cooperative.

Zhane produced a blanket for Andros to wrap around himself, and they encountered little resistance getting the rest of his clothes off. It really wasn't half as bad as Ashley had initially thought--his side had been burned by the laser, but his thigh just looked faintly pink.

"I told you--" Andros ground his teeth together when Ashley dabbed his skin with disinfectant. "It's nothing to be worried about."

"Whenever you say that, it's something to worry about," Zhane informed him, as he handed Andros several bandages. "And... sorry," he added sheepishly. "Looks like we needed that training sim."

Andros rolled his eyes with a sigh, and shook his head. "I'm fine."

"So he keeps saying," Ashley remarked, and brushed her lips against his bare shoulder. "But if it was me, I don't think it would be so fine."

Andros didn't answer, and the burns were soon hidden beneath bandages. Ashley handed him his clothes back and he redressed himself quickly, his injured wrist not seeming to give him any problems.

"Feel better?" she asked, smiling when he wrapped his good arm around her and pulled her close.

"Thanks," he said softly, and kissed her cheek.

His lips were soft against her skin, and she smiled when somehow that was enough to make her feel tingly and warm. He smiled when she hugged his neck, and sighed in her ear.

"Love you," he whispered.

When she looked around, Zhane was gone and it was just the two of them left in the med bay. Ashley smiled and tugged on his good arm, her hand finding his as they left the room as well. She wasn't surprised when they found themselves in his room, in his bed.

Andros lay on his right side, for obvious reasons not wanting to put weight on his left side. Ashley curled up against his chest and closed her eyes while he stroked her hair with one hand, his fingertips trailing lightly over her eyebrows and down her nose.

"That feels nice," she murmured, when he ran his fingers through her hair. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"You're the one who said I'd be fine in a few days," he reminded her, a touch of amusement in his voice. "It doesn't hurt so much."

"That's good..." She stifled a yawn with her hand, wondering why she was suddenly so sleepy. Well, besides not having slept the night before.

"Tired?"

"A little," she admitted. "I didn't sleep so well after..."

"I know." He kissed the top of her head with a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry about that."

"You've said that already," she murmured. "And I don't see how it was your fault to begin with."

She was a little surprised when he decided not to argue. "Get some rest, Ash," he said softly. "I'll wake you up if you start having nightmares."

"You're not going to sleep?" Ashley opened one eye, and saw him shake his head.

"Not tired," he said with a shrug. A mischievous smile formed on his face. "Besides, I like watching you sleep."

That brought a smile to her face, and she snuggled closer. Andros was never cuter than when he slept, and she didn't think she'd ever have enough of watching him.

"Okay," she whispered, her words swallowed by another yawn. "Night."

Andros held her close, pressing a kiss into her hair. "Night."

Author's Note: Yes! I'm finally back on track with this story! Updates should be weekly again with "Let Come What May" finished, and I have tons written for where I currently am in "All I Am." I hope you like the chapter, please review.